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Publisher's Summary

HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich," or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich." The most dangerous man in Hitler's cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich was known as the "Butcher of Prague." He was feared by all and loathed by most. With his cold Aryan features and implacable cruelty, Heydrich seemed indestructible - until two men, a Slovak and a Czech recruited by the British secret service - killed him in broad daylight on a bustling street in Prague, and thus changed the course of History.

Who were these men, arguably two of the most discreet heroes of the twentieth century? In Laurent Binet's captivating debut novel, we follow Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubiš from their dramatic escape of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to England; from their recruitment to their harrowing parachute drop into a war zone, from their stealth attack on Heydrich's car to their own brutal death in the basement of a Prague church.

A seemingly effortlessly blend of historical truth, personal memory, and Laurent Binet's remarkable imagination, HHhH- an international best seller and winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman - is a work at once thrilling and intellectually engrossing, a fast-paced novel of the Second World War that is also a profound meditation on the nature of writing and the debt we owe to history.

An interesting narrative about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The title comes from the SS phrase: "Himlers Hirn heisst Heydrich" ("Himmler's brain is called Heydrich"). Instead of telling the story as a straight historical narrative, Laurent Binet weaves himself throughout the main narrative. It becomes in parts a contrived post-modern mediation on truth, fiction, and the author. I want to give Binet points for trying to create a novel that possesses gravitas, is interesting, is tense, but also isn't traditional. Throughout the novel I was cheering for Binet like I was cheering for Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis, but while Binet takes huge risks with this novel he just doesn't cleanly land his bold quadruple H.

The actual story and history that the book wants to tell is compelling. But the weird method of telling the story gets in the way.

Any additional comments?

This should have been a much better book considering the story it aims to tell about the assassination of Heidrich. The problem with the book is that the author is writing about his attempt to write this story. In PAINFUL detail. He literally interrupts the story to say things like, "I was going to write that Heidrich had pancakes for breakfast, but I didn't know for sure if that would be historically accurate". I'm not making this up. WTF?? The first three chapters of the book are the author's ramblings about thinking about writing a book. I thought it was just a lengthy FOREWARD or something.

I don't know why he wrote the book this way. It seems like it would have been a compelling story and at times it starts to be, then the author interjects something like, "I wrote this sentence but my girlfriend didn't like it, but I kept it anyway." ugh.

I loved the way the author told this story. The narrator of the story is a writer who has the facts about the real events that took place in this WW2 story and then builds the back story of the main characters. While being as factual as he can be he acknowledges that he has to create some of what the characters were likely thinking or feeling. This is why it is a novel and not a non-fiction history. He tells us what he is doing and I found the commentary he interjected while writing the story very entertaining. I really am not explaining this well; suffice is to say I really enjoyed this book. I was anxious to go back to it everytime I had to put it down.

The reader did a great job. He was very easy to listen to and captured the tone of the story perfectly.

An incredible book. I got the sense early on that this would be one of those books I'd be recommending for the rest of my life.

It's a book about a mission of Czech and Slovakian nationals, who have escaped Czechoslovakia, going back to Prague to assassinate a Nazi leader. Sort of.

It's really a book about how difficult it is to research a book about a well known and celebrated event and actually contribute anything worthwhile to the specific story in particular and the genre in general. Almost.

At its true core, it's a book about how writing historical non-fiction so easily slips into historical fiction because of the relationship the author develops with his characters and the desire to glorify their words and actions. It's the feeling that you have to add some dialogue or back story to a detail which is crucial to the story but completely lacking any corresponding information.

But it's really an homage to the bravery of the men of the mission and the thousands of people of Czechoslovakia who sacrificed so much for their mission. The sense of awe and love that Binet feels for the full cast of characters is evident and never becomes forced or maudlin. He doesn't address it i one of the many asides, but that trick may have been the hardest one of all to pull off!

HHhH is full of brilliant asides, clever deprecations of other books on the subject (complete with longing that he'd let himself get away with action packed dialogue), and a true sense of the respect that Binet felt for the men of Operation Anthropoid. I recommend it fully as an historical account, as an historical novel, and as a personal memoir of the joys and pains of writing each of those types of books.

This book is weird, but in a good way. It took me a while to feel that way, however.

This book is not a conventional novel or history. The author mixes history, an attempt to write a novel about the people involved, and a kind of running commentary on his own efforts and struggles in writing the book. In some ways it reminds me of the movie Adaptation, where an writer struggles to write a screenplay without inserting himself into the story.

This book provided an engaging window into a piece of World War II history that is not covered much anymore (at least, in my experience). It also provides interesting insight into the struggles of writing a historical novel.

The pacing of the book and its frequent switching between history, an attempt at fiction, and commentary on the attempt at writing historical fiction was very strange at first. I got used to it after a while and enjoyed it, but it may be off-putting to people in the mood for a conventional novel or history.

I find that John Lee's narration can be dynamite or difficult, and it really depends on the book. His range can make books with lots of dialogue and characters difficult to follow at times. This book was right up his alley, however, as the voice of the author and his struggles came through pretty well.

I would recommend this book for history and fiction fans looking for something different and experimental.